


Colophon

by SapphoIsBurning



Category: Cut & Run - Madeleine Urban & Abigail Roux
Genre: Books, Bookstores, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 02:10:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2174058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphoIsBurning/pseuds/SapphoIsBurning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ty shows off to Zane everything he has learned about rare books and their many intriguing qualities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Colophon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [daisyisnotaflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisyisnotaflower/gifts).



 “Hey Zane.  Colophon.” Ty giggled.

“Grady, stop it.”

Since he resigned from the FBI, Ty had both more and less time on his hands.  Restoring the warehouse he purchased in order to get his bookstore off the ground was ostensibly a full-time job, but without a desk and a boss and a caseload and a schedule, it was hard for him to focus.  Some days he hung drywall and pulled up flooring until he got bored.  Some days he browsed catalogs of industrial shelving and commercial furniture. Some days he worked in the morning, some days he worked at night. When you worked for yourself, he found out, you were never *not* working because you could always be doing something.

It would have driven anyone else crazy, but both he and Zane had years of experience at never being “off” the job. At least this 24/7 job had considerably less risk of a violent death.

On this Saturday morning, he would have been at the warehouse except for the blizzard going on outside. It hadn’t snowed this much in Baltimore in a decade, and there was nothing for them to do but bundle up and watch it drift.

Ty was preparing for the upcoming Baltimore Antiquarian Booksellers Expo. It would be his first time networking in the book selling community and he was nervous to learn as much as he could. He was working his way through a glossary of book-collecting terms, squinting at his iPad and making notes.

“A colophon is a page included at the back of very early books that described who the printer was and when the book was printed, but…come on.  Colophon.”

“I’ll colophon you.”

“Come on Lone Star, I’m trying to expand my horizons.”

“I’m not sure endless Wikipedia browsing really counts,” Zane grumbled. He rolled over, pulling the wool blanket with him. The covers slid away and left Ty exposed and sputtering indignantly. He hit Zane with a pillow and leapt out of bed.  He snatched a bathrobe off of the door and fled downstairs.

Zane lay in blissful silence for a moment before clanging began downstairs. The cast-iron skillet. The coffee maker.  The fridge.  The fridge.  The cupboards. Breakfast pouting!  The best! He sighed.

When Ty threw himself into a new venture, he went all the way, which could be overwhelming. But it was also what he loved about Ty: his mercurial intensity. He didn’t want to get out of bed, but he couldn’t shout an apology across the house.  He wrapped himself in the blanket and padded down to the kitchen.

He leaned across the kitchen island to leer at Ty’s bare ass.  “Isn’t cooking naked a little risky, even for you?”

Ty threw bacon into the skillet. “I’m not naked. I’m wearing an apron.”

“Making enough for two?”

“Don’t I always?” he huffed. “You’re going to have to settle for frozen waffles, though, we’re out of pretty much everything else. Can you put maple syrup in coffee? I should have gone to the store before the storm hit.”

“We’ll manage.  Ty, I’m sorry I made fun of your book research.”

“No you’re not.”

“I mean it.  Tell me what you’ve learned about books.”

“Books can be _loose_.  Books can be _uncut_.  They can be _cocked_.”

“Can they be half-cocked?” Zane rolled his eyes slightly but he was starting to crack a smile.

“They can be _laid-in_.  They can be _whip_ stitched.”

“Go on.”

“They have a head.  They have a tail.  They’re just like people, Zane.  Almost.” He poked the bacon with a spatula.

“What would a book do if I ran my fingers up its spine?” Zane asked.  He approached Ty and ran a finger up from the rise of his ass to his neck.

“The spine’s a great part. You can feel the quality of the...backstrip…” Ty shuddered as Zane ran his fingers up from his neck and through his hair.

“I don’t know about rare books.  You have to handle them so carefully.  You know I like to get rough with the things that I love the most.”

Ty turned off the stove. He turned around and folded his arms. “I bet you fold over all the corners.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You like to break the spines.  I bet you even…” Ty wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “WRITE in them.”

Zane leaned in. “I’ll write all over them.”

Ty hooked his thumbs in the band of Zane’s boxers. “That will make them harder to re-sell, you know.”

“Who said anything about selling? I can do whatever I want in my…private library.”

“Even catalogue it!”

Zane paused.  “Do you want me to catalogue you? I thought we were speaking in metaphors.”

“Catalogue me! Damage my resale value! Rebind me! Publish a facsimile edition!” Ty cackled wildly and grabbed at Zane, pulling his boxers down.

Zane reached behind Ty, loosening his cooking apron, which fell to the floor.  “I’m so confused right now.”

“Don’t be, baby, just get up in my colophon.” They followed the apron and hit the floor, tangled together. Their eyes met as they kissed deeply.  Ty bit at Zane’s bottom lip, pulling on in gently. Zane moaned and scrambled with his hands to get a grip on Ty.  He rolled them to the side, landing on top.

“Are you the kind of book I have to handle with white gloves, or can I read you in the bath?” Zane asked.

“Incunabula,” Ty murmured deliriously. Zane shook his head and reached over them into a drawer, grasping for the downstairs bottle of lube.  (As opposed to the upstairs bedroom bottle, the bathroom tube, the special garage lube, and the packets stashed in the car for when they were on-the-go.  You could never be too well prepared.) He wet his fingers and stroked Ty’s ass, fingering him deeply.

“Yes, make me go out of print,” Ty moaned. Zane stroked faster, twisting his fingers deeply. He stroked Ty’s cock with his other hand, matching the rhythm.

“You are the rarest edition of all time, Beaumont,” Zane grinned. Ty’s breathing became more rapid as he cried out wordlessly, coming. He panted, looking glassy-eyed and dazed.

“Books can be married, you know,” Ty mused.

Zane wadded up the kitchen apron, placed it under his head, and lay down on the floor next to Ty. They held each other and contemplated their life together as a complete set, as is and with all faults.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Partially inspired by the list of antiquarian booksellers' terms found here while looking up information about what it would take for Ty to actually open a bookstore: http://www.ioba.org/pages/resources/book-terminology/


End file.
